Wipeout

Variants

The original Wipeout packaging was sadly not a hit with the American public. Due to various reasons, Sony and Psygnosis felt it necessary to redo it with a more generic, less stylized feel. A slip-cover was created to cover existing copies already at retail.

Slip Cover Release – Original Gray Case Art with Americanized Slip Cover

With that out of the way and sales continuing, the actual packaging was updated to reflect the new look. Note they didn’t bother changing the manual.

Flat Long Box Americanized Cover – Manual unchanged

Wipeout was successful enough to warrant further printings, this time joining the ranks of the jewel case variants.

Jewel Case Release

Thanks to Virtua in our Discord server, a variant has been added! Sony published the first edition of the Greatest Hits disc. Their SKU starting 11719 is on the back of the case.

Greatest Hits Release

Finally, it appears Sony released publishing options back to Psygnosis. Despite the SCUS still being there, it’s Psygnosis’ barcode on the back. Sony would do the same thing with Namco’s Ridge Racer. It should be noted the Green Greatest Hits banner isn’t as different as it appears in between these two scans. You’re just seeing two different scanners a decade apart.

Greatest Hits Release

Misprints

• There are no known misprints.

Review

• There is no review for this game yet.

Final Score: NA – No Review

Summary Text

Screenshots

• There are no screenshots for this game yet.

Videos

Wipeout’s slipcover made it into GameRaveTV’s Subset Collection concerning how companies had to sell to two audiences.

For launch day fans, early marketing for the system, and launch-era games.

Trivia

• If you’re confused by the huge variant image, note that Wipeout’s design aesthetics were ahead of their time, especially in the gaming industry. The Japanese / Techno look ended up confusing John Q. Public here in the US, so Sony had to redo the cover of the standard “race car on track coming at you” crap to help it sell the game. To make things worse, if you study the screenshots of the slipcover / new art, they only used images where there were concrete / race track-like surfaces. The images showing the checkered floor, the weapon pads, and others were removed.
• Because of the typography style, many people believe the game to read as “wip3out”, despite the ‘E” clearly facing the right direction.
• Link Cable Compatible.
• The Ad for the game caused some controversy due to people mistaking the “nosebleed from speed” as “nosebleed from drug overdose or violence.”

Secrets

Here are some nifty unlocks for the original Wipeout.

• Unlock Firestar Track
  At the ‘Select Number of Players’ screen, highlight ‘1 Player’, hold R1 + L1 + Right + Start + Square + Circle, and then press Cross. You will see Firestar in the Racing Circuit screen. You’ll need to use both hands in an awkward position to get this done – or at least an arcade stick.
• Enable Rapier Class
  At the Select Number of Players screen, highlight ‘1 Player’, hold R2 + L2 + Left + START + Select, and then press Cross. Once you get to the Class selection, Rapier will be there. You’ll need to use both hands in an awkward position to get this done – or at least an arcade stick.
• 2x Partial Turbo Start
  Start the race with your thrust fluctuating between boxes six and seven (counting from the right) for a quick jump off from the starting line.
• 3x Full Turbo Start
  You’ll want to have the thrust meter hitting the bar between boxes three and four (counting from the right) the moment the race starts.